Alabama's Ryan Grubb Top Candidate For Seahawks OC With Chip Kelly Ohio State Bound
New Alabama offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb spoke to the Red Elephant Club of boosters Wednesday at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa on National Signing Day.
"I'm Ryan Grubb," he said. "I'm your new offensive coordinator."
That was a true statement on Wednesday and Thursday and probably Friday. But this weekend and early next week, it may no longer be true. Seattle Seahawks new head coach Mike Macdonald remains very interested in hiring Grubb, 47, to be his offensive coordinator. And Grubb has lived in the wonderful Seattle area the last two years as the offensive coordinator for the Washington Huskies under coach Kalen DeBoer.
DeBoer took the Alabama head coaching job last month and took Grubb and other Washington assistants with him - for now. If Grubb takes the Seattle job, he wouldn't have to move, which he probably has not got around to yet. He has been busy recruiting for the Crimson Tide.
Alabama OC Ryan Grubb Targeted By Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks were also very interested in hiring UCLA head coach and offensive guru Chip Kelly, 60, to be their offensive coordinator. They reportedly interviewed him on Tuesday. But they may have been more interested in Grubb as Kelly just took the Ohio State offensive coordinator post on Friday. He replaces Bill O'Brien, who had been Ohio State's OC for exactly 21 days. O'Brien left the OC job at Alabama following the 2022 season to be OC for the New England Patriots, but he left that after the Pats fired head coach Bill Belichick.
Perhaps, Kelly did not get the offer from Seattle.
Sources close to Pac-12 schools told OutKick Friday afternoon that Grubb could soon be Seattle's new offensive coordinator, and he may be taking new Alabama offensive line coach Scott Huff, 32, with him. Huff would also not have to move from the Seattle area. He coached Washington's offensive line since 2017. Huff has also been busy recruiting for Alabama and getting to know the current Tide offensive linemen.
But life and new opportunities come at you fast in college football and in the NFL. Just ask O'Brien. Particularly if superstar sports agent Jimmy Sexton is your agent.
Sexton represents Grubb, so Grubb's connection to the Seattle opening could be Sexton just doing his job like no one else in his field. Sexton could just be making sure Grubb's new contract and salary with the Tide maxes out. Or Grubb could be Seattle's No. 1 target for OC.
The NFL has long been a very exclusive, higher-paying league with far fewer teams than college and far fewer headaches, particularly recently amid NIL and the portal since their entry in 2021. One can actually take a little time off and disconnect in the NFL.
Ryan Grubb Is Hotter Than Other Candidate Seattle Is Considering
An offensive coordinator position in the NFL also could accelerate Grubb to a head coaching job in college or the NFL quicker than an OC position in college.
The only other candidate at the moment is Detroit Lions' pass game coordinator Tanner Engstrand, 41. Engstrand is not as qualified as Grubb, though he is coming off a great near-Super Bowl season in Detroit. Engstrand just finished only his second season as pass game coordinator with the Lions. Before that, he was a lower level offensive assistant with the Lions in 2020 and '21 after an OC post in the XFL in 2020.
Grubb is one of the hottest offensive coordinators in college football. Before his two vastly successful seasons at Washington (2022-23), he was Fresno State's OC from 2019-21.
And considering the late timing of Kelly's move to Ohio State, UCLA may consider Grubb for its head coaching opening.
A possible candidate to replace Kelly at UCLA is just-fired Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who was vastly successful as USC's coach and won national titles in 2003 and ‘04. He is 72, though. Other possible candidates include former Stanford coach David Shaw, Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White, who is a former UCLA linebacker, and former Washington Commanders’ offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, a former UCLA running backs coach. Yep, slim pickings.
Chip Kelly leaves a UCLA team that he led to three straight winning seasons after it went through four straight losing campaigns. (Getty Images)
Kelly's move is amazing - leaving a major program headed to the Big Ten for a Big Ten assistant coaching job. Ohio State will have a much better chance of winning the 2024 national title than will UCLA, and that could lead Kelly to an NFL coordinator position, which is what he really wants. But it's not like UCLA is a terrible program.
After inheriting a team that was 4-8 and 2-7 and 6-7 and 4-5 in the last two seasons of coach Jim. L. Mora, Kelly went 3-9 and 4-8 in 2018 and ‘19. Following the COVID 2020 season, he turned the corner at 8-4 and 6-3 and 9-4 and 6-3 in 2021 and ’22 before falling to 8-5 and 4-2 this past season. His 2022 offense finished No. 4 in the nation with 503 yards a game.
UCLA Is Not A Bad Job
But Kelly disliked recruiting and particularly disliked NIL and the portal. You can bet he will not have a lot of recruiting to do at Ohio State under Ryan Day, an old friend. While Kelly was New Hampshire's offensive coordinator from 1998-2001 there, Day played quarterback. Day later coached with Kelly at New Hampshire, and Day coached quarterbacks for Kelly when he was the 49ers' head coach in 2016. That was a disastrous 2-14 season, but Kelly at least was coaching.
That is what he will be doing more of at Ohio State, and he must really want that. If he makes the highest salary in the nation for a college coordinator, he will make $2 million or more a year for the Buckeyes. He was under contract at UCLA through 2027 at $6 million a year. Now, how owes UCLA a buyout of $1.5 million and will make $4 million less just to leave.
Kelly must really hate being a college football head coach in this day and age of NIL and the portal.
"This is a tough job, being a college football head coach," UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond said Friday. "Nowadays in this world, you need a CEO that embraces all aspects of a successful program. That's NIL. That’s recruiting. That’s donor relations. That’s development of young people. It’s all of that."
Notice, Jarmond did not say the word "coaching" in his description.
"So we're looking for a CEO that has that energy and passion for that," Jarmond said.
That wasn't Chip Kelly. It could be Ryan Grubb, if he doesn't stay in Seattle.